How Can I Help?

Yesterday I left from an interview feeling hopeless. Powerless. Dismayed.

I was speaking with two guys, both 26, who started an organization called Changing the Community. They met as kids playing football for rival teams, went to college, got degrees and decided they'd come back to their hometown to help young athletes behind them learn life skills, in addition to the fundamentals of the game. They mentor kids across the city and put on a summer life skills camp with no outside funding. In a district where 25% of black males graduate high school, they believe their program can make the difference.
"We gotta stop fooling ourselves about what our kids want," one said to me. "They don't want education, they want football. We give them what they want then sneak in what they need."

They want on to say they relate to the kids better than teachers or anyone else because they ARE those kids. They came from broken homes, went to the same schools and are more "black" than other black professionals (read: Oreos) who they said kids won't listen to.

So I thought to myself, "Damn, where does that leave me?" I want to help. But I'm not them....My parents have been married 26 years, I always got good grades and then I went to college like we're told we're "supposed" to do. I always saw value in education. I never was interested in ....you know, what the kids are out here doing now.

So what do I have to offer them? If I can't relate to them, why would they listen to me - or people like me? I had a looong convo last night trying to sort out my confusion about this, because it's clear black people only come in two extremes. Women are hoodrats/baby mamas and men are thugs/drug dealers...or you're uppity and bourgeiose. We don't see anything in the middle. Either you're "real" or you're whack. (As awful as last week's episode of The Game was, think about it - no one wanted to listen to Dr. Melanie Barnett, but they wanted autographs from the video girl).
What about those in the middle? How can I tell a kid education is important when they see lots of "educated" people being laid off every day? Or those who graduated with a piece of paper and no paycheck? Or the Amber Roses who go from stripper to model/socialite? Or the Jay-Z's who sold drugs, rapped, married Beyonce and kicked it with Warren Buffet?

You can say it starts with the parents...but let's face it, it ain't happening. So how can someone from the outside combat the things kids are seeing and believing? I can't say I've been where you are and you don't have to do that. That's not my reality....so again, I sit here feeling powerless. What do we have to offer?